Call for grants for predoctoral contracts for the training of doctors_2019
October 22, 2019POSTPONEMENT – call for DGA group recognition 2020-2022
October 25, 2019
The test is practically unique in the world, as it is distinguished from another analysis that locates these tumors early through feces in blood, a "less effective" method.
The biomedicine company Amadix, based in Valladolid, intends to launch a blood test based on biomarkers on the market "during 2020" that could diagnose colon cancer up to 15 years before the first symptoms appear, through of the detection of intestinal polyps in healthy patients, both women and men, from 50 to 75 years of age once a year.
The product, called Colofast, has already been validated in 1.000 samples from 13 Spanish hospitals. According to these results, its detection rate is around 90% in those 15 years that elapse between the initial presence of polyps and the formation of the tumor. According to their calculations, between 12 and 15 million Spaniards (healthy men and women between 50 and 75 years old) are the potential beneficiaries of this blood test.
Very slow developing cancer
"More than 60% of colon tumors are detected in advanced stages. It is a very slow developing cancer, about 15 years. During this period, intestinal polyps (advanced adenomas) of about 2 centimeters in diameter can be detected, which later they develop into a tumor. With a colonoscopy, they are removed and subsequent cancer is avoided," explained the company's general director, Rocío Arroyo, at a press conference.
After obtaining the first results at the national level, Amadix is currently carrying out a validation in Europe in 3.100 patients thanks to the investment of its partners and the support of the European Commission. Once its conclusions are known, back in the "first quarter" of next year, it could be on the market "throughout 2020."
According to Arroyo, its cost would be below 200 euros. "It is not going to be high, since the manufacturing cost is low. We are talking to both public and private marketers," he detailed. In addition, negotiations are already taking place with both the public administration and private entities to include it in the public service portfolio or of these private hospitals.
